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When I Say Pizz, You Say Up!

“PIZZAUP” “PISSUP” “PIZZAPP” “PISSINGUP” – call it what you will ladies. I ain’t precious.

So, what is this all about then?

I’ve rambled a fair bit about my feelings of isolation, and loneliness as a new mum – and with the arrival of my first daughter Elsie, I also seemingly gave birth to a shed load of self-doubt, insecurity and need to ‘belong’. To what I’m not sure, but I craved a supportive network of women who, like me – found this new mammoth job that I never interviewed for, and equally never received any training towards – incredibly overwhelming.

If like me, you spend a chunk of your (already precious) time scrolling around social media – you’ll be familiar with the terms ‘Girl gang’ and ‘Mum tribe’ to name but a few. I wanted a piece of what everyone else seemed to be having (I realise now, that’s not the case at all – story of my bloody life) and I felt I was missing out in some way.

After my second daughter Marnie was born, the quest for the ultimate mum mates had settled somewhat. I had discovered a scattering of good women – not a ‘tribe’, nor a ‘gang’ just some great mates, who understood me as Lorna, not only as a mum – and were, just like me – learning on the job.

Around the same time as my desperado mum mate hunt had stabilised, I also began on my blog voyage with The Mumblings. From that, I had received a few messages from local mums who had read my ramblings, and followed me on Instagram – saying that they had ‘seen me in Sainsbury’ or ‘spotted me in the park’ – but hadn’t wanted to come and say hi, in case I thought they were a weird stalker. The irony is, as I said when I replied – that I recognised them too, but hadn’t said hi, because they might think I was – um, a weird stalker! Women! So anyway, we had said we should meet up and arrange a get together – maybe a playdate, or even better – an evening without the kids, to have a chin wag over a bottle or four of prosecco.

Having always loved to party, however these days being a slightly tamed social butterfly – I do still love to organise get togethers – whether that’s with mum mates, play dates, big nights or dinners at my gaff. Such is the eternal ball ache of trying to gather any friends together these days for a ‘catch up’ and secure a date which works for all – I decided that maybe I should just organise an en masse local mum meet up? I could find a venue, meet some new local mums, introduce them to each other, catch up with my existing ones, and anyone else who fancied a night off and out! If I was going to do this, I wanted the night to feel inclusive, and I wanted anyone to feel welcome. No guest list, no exclusive groups – as someone who has long suffered with FOMO and feeling a little on the outside of it all, I wanted everyone to feel welcome.

I had craved something like this to be around when I had Elsie – a reason for me to get out, slap on some lippy, meet likeminded mums and just have a night off. As a wise woman once said (my mum) “JFDI darling! “(Just fucking do it) – And so I did – and PIZZUP was born!

But why the name? Well, I felt it would be good to have a title to the night – something that you could cement in the diary, as opposed to just another ‘mum’s night out’. A bit like Ronseal – I also wanted the night to do what it said on the tin, and – as much as I am well known for my trucker mouth – I assumed I might be pushing it too far by selling tickets to a blatant ‘PISSUP’. With the focus of the night being the simplicities of good women, a lorra prosecco, and some pizza, I thought ‘PIZZUP’ provided the perfect play on words.

With three PIZZUP’s down, and another one on the way, it would seem that the lure of fizz, food and excellent old school tunes is strong in the motherhood. I have been blown away with the success so far of the night, and with PIZZUP #3 selling out in just 9 hours, at 67 tickets I was left, for the first time in my life – a little speechless. It wasn’t just me who fancied having a night off, alongside some awesome women and a bit of old school garage – there’s a tank load of us!

Finally, the moral of PIZZUP is this – ANYONE is welcome. Instagram, no Instagram, business or no business. My PIZZUP doors are wide open (she said).

*SAVE THE DATE* – PIZZUP #4 will be on 31st August, South West London.